Safeguarding and Welfare
Please note that The Whisper Button is completely anonymous. But if you would like someone to contact you to discuss your concerns, please leave your contact details.
Alternatively, to contact the Essex Safeguarding Children Board please call 0345 6037627 or visit https://www.escb.co.uk/.
Prevent Duty and Counter-Radicalisation
- Stop Hate Crime – https://www.report-it.org.uk/
- Act Early – https://actearly.uk/.
LGBTQ+ Language Toolkit and Anti-Racism Language Toolkit
Working with our students, we have launched two toolkits looking at, and advising on, the language around LGBTQ+ and Anti-Racism.
Please click on the images below to access the toolkits.
If anyone would like a paper copy, please request this at reception.
Further Resources
Online Mental Health and Wellbeing Support for young people
Dear Parents and Carers,
Over the coming week your child may mention they have been made aware of a service called Kooth. It provides early intervention mental health support to children and young people. Kooth works with schools and professionals across over 90% of the UK.
Kooth is free to access via any internet-connected tablet, computer or smartphone. There are no waiting lists or thresholds to meet and a referral from a medical professional is not needed. Your child can join Kooth anonymously simply by visiting www.kooth.com.
Kooth offers young people a range and choice of support options under one digital roof. It has services that are accessible 7 days a week, 365 days a year. This includes one to one text based sessions with experienced counsellors and wellbeing practitioners run from midday to 10pm on weekdays, and from 6 -10pm at the weekend. Appointments can be booked in advance or accessed via a drop-in text-based chat. Kooth also provides a fully safeguarded and pre-moderated community with a library of peer and professional created articles. And there are discussion forums too. All content is pre-moderated and age appropriate.
Kooth covers many topics on the website including relationships, LGBTQ+, exam stress, anxiety, eating difficulties, self harm, suicidal thoughts, body image, social media, bullying and family worries. All of these subjects affecting young peoples’ mental health are presenting issues that Kooth and other mental health providers see from all age groups. Kooth is commissioned by the NHS and clinically approved for children from the age of 10, and is the only digital mental health provider to hold a BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) accreditation across the Country.
Kooth have sent us this short session as a guide for parents and carers:
Parent and Carer information session (11 minutes)
We will also send students a short ‘how to’ guide so they can join Kooth if they feel this would support them. If you have any questions please let us know. If you would prefer to contact Kooth directly, please email parents@kooth.com.
Kind regards,
Safeguarding Updates and Newsletters
Our most recent Safeguarding updates can be found below:
Safeguarding Newsletter Summer 2024
Safeguarding Newsletter Spring 2024
Safeguarding Newsletter December 2022
Safeguarding Newsletter 20th October 2022
Safeguarding Update 27th May 2022
Safeguarding Update 11th February 2022
SG Updates_ Wednesday 1st September 2021
Safeguarding Update dated 29th June 2021_
Monday 22nd February, 2021 – Online safety courses for parents
National Online Safety Membership Parental Sign Up, Monday 8th February
Safeguarding Update, Monday 8th February 2021
Safeguarding Update, Friday 29th January, 2021
Safeguarding Update, Monday 18th January, 2021
Safeguarding Update, Wednesday 7th January, 2021
Omegle Safeguarding Update 231120
Safeguarding updates – Autumn 2020
Safeguarding Alert 8th September 2020
End of term safeguarding update, July 2020
LGfL-DigiSafe-Parent-Letter-Safe-Online-Summer-2020
Safeguarding Update April 2020
Safeguarding Concern re Yubo 30th January 2020
Safeguarding Concern re School Nurse Hoax January 2020
Safeguarding-Updates-November-2019
Be FEARLESS against crime
Fearless is a site where you can access non-judgemental information and advice about crime and criminality. You can find more information via Be FEARLESS against crime.
What makes this site different is they also provide you with a safe
place to give information about crime – 100% anonymously. If you have any information about crime and are unsure who you can pass this onto – you can let Fearless and let us know 100% anonymously. They are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – 365 days a year for you.
If you know something that has happened, have information about a place or person that has been involved in a crime or you know a crime is being planned you can let Fearless know safely without passing on any of your personal details using the Secure Online Form –
https://www.fearless.org/give-info-anonymously.
It’s important to remember that they are not a replacement for the emergency services so our advice if something is happening that needs immediate action – ring 999.
Remember that you can also contact the school using ‘The Whisper Button’ at the top of this page.
Child Exploitation and Mental Health in Schools
All of our safeguarding processes and procedures conform to Keeping Children Safe in Education (2024):
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education–2
Please also see our our Child Protection Policy which can be found in the policies section of this website: https://www.hdhs.org.uk/parents/policies/
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is child abuse and an extremely harmful practice with devastating health consequences for girls and women. Some girls die from blood loss or infection as a direct result of the procedure. Some women who have undergone FGM are also likely to find it difficult to give birth and many also suffer from long-term psychological trauma. For more information, please visit the NWG Network website.
Reporting abuse
The symbol on the ‘Report Abuse’ button, which looks a bit like an eye on legs, represents the Virtual Global Taskforce (VGT), a group of law enforcement agencies who work together to fight online abuse relating to children. If you click on the button you will be reporting a problem directly to someone at CEOP (the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Agency). You are then likely to be contacted by a social worker or a police officer, to talk through your report in more detail. They need to do this to make sure you are safe. It is also a good idea to talk to your parents about your report to CEOP, although if your report concerns a family member, CEOP will not make contact with them until an investigation has been completed.
Reporting Other Concerns
If you do not want to make a report by pressing the CEOP button but are still worried about something that is online, related to self harm, mental health or anything you consider abusive, then please talk to your Key Stage 3 or Key Stage 4 hub or to an adult you can trust. Alternatively, you can make a report 24/7 by clicking our ‘report an issue’ button and key people in the school will be notified straight away. This allows us to support you even more effectively.
You can also get guidance from NEFLT NHS Foundation Trust. Any young person up to the age of 18 (25 if you have Special Educational Needs) can contact NEFLT’s Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Service (EWMHS), or any parent, guardian or teacher of a young person who is experiencing emotional wellbeing and mental health difficulties.
You can find out more about NELFT by accessing: www.nelft.nhs.uk
Harwich and Dovercourt High School is a subscriber to the South West Grid for Learning (SWGfL) who are international leaders in providing support to stay safe online.
Please use this link if you have any concerns, or require specialist advice on how to respond and deal with online issues.
http://swgfl.org.uk/products-services/esafety/resources
You can get support that relates to Facebook, AskFM and Sexting, amongst others. For families, there is a toolkit as well as more specific support for early years or older children progressing onto university.
REMEMBER: If in doubt, don’t hesitate to contact the school and we will support you.
Reporting Radicalisation and Extremism
The media is alive with reports of concern over radicalisation, extremism and terrorism. There are worrying numbers of young people who are putting themselves at risk by travelling to Syria and other conflict zones. There are steps that can be taken to intervene early on to protect our young people before they have started to consider travelling to Syria or high risk countries. Mothers are often, though not exclusively, the ones in a family who are most likely to spot signs and notice changes in their children’s behaviour.
Through active steps such as taking an interest in what children are looking at online, and encouraging open conversations about issues that are of concern, we will all be able to help prevent further tragedy.
If you have a concern you should call the Police on 101. Call 999 in an emergency. They will provide confidential help and advice.
If you feel uncomfortable speaking to the Police direct about your concerns, there are other people who are trained and able to provide practical help and advice for you and your family. This includes healthcare professionals, social workers, teachers and local authorities.
The most important thing is that you seek help from someone at an early stage.
HDHS has colleagues trained under the PREVENT Duty and there is monitoring within the school. Should the school have any concerns, our safeguarding protocols will be followed alongside the guidance offered by the PREVENT Duty. An Information leaflet from UK Police and Partners is available on the school website.
Self Taken Images – ‘Sexting’/Nude Selfies
Someone taking an indecent image of themselves, and sending it to their friends or boy/girlfriend via a mobile phone or some other form of technology is sometimes referred to as ‘sexting’. Once these images have been taken and sent to others, control is lost of them and they can end up anywhere. They could be seen by friends and family, a future employer, or even, in some cases, end up in the possession of an offender!
This also puts the person who originally sent the images in a vulnerable position, as somebody they may or may not know now has these images and could use technology to bully, harass or even try to locate them. Just think – if you wouldn’t print and pass these images around your school or show your Mum or Dad, they are not appropriate to share via phone or other technologies.
Social Networking
We are aware that many students have people in their “friends” list on social networking accounts who they do not actually know. We are advising all our students to delete ‘friends’ from Facebook, or similar social networking accounts, if they do not know them in person,
and are not actually friends with them.
Please take this advice very seriously, and parents should always be vigilant. The dangers of having strangers on these sites are increasingly concerning. Our staff have supported a number of our students through differing social networking incidents and we know that there are still some students who are accepting strangers as ‘friends’.
Parents, please encourage your children to:
1. Delete anyone who they do not know in person as a friend.
2. Talk to yourselves or staff at school if they feel compromised.
3. Report anything they feel uncomfortable about to CEOP (Child Exploitation & Online Protection) via their website https://www.ceop.police.uk/Safety-Centre/.
We take E-Safety very seriously at HDHS
*STOP PRESS* Do you really know what your children are doing online? You may have internet filters already in place; do you really know how secure the filters are? What are YOU doing to safeguard your youngsters’ electronic activity?
As a school we have produced an E-Safety Advice Leaflet which can be downloaded here: HDHS-E-Safety-Leaflet
At Harwich and Dovercourt High School we educate and protect our students in their use of ICT and the internet. We aim to constantly reinforce the responsibilities that our students have when surfing the web through ICT lessons, PSHE lessons and Community Assemblies.
“The risks that children face may have changed but basic parenting skills remain the same” is the central message from the UK’s national centre for child protection – the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre.
Further details can be found here: Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre
What to do if you have a safeguarding concern involving a child
What to do if you have a safeguarding concern involving a child
If you are concerned that a child or young person is being harmed or neglected, or is at risk of this, you should go to the Essex Effective Support website where you can make a referral to the Children and Families Hub.
Where a child is at immediate risk of significant harm, call the Children and Families Hub on 0345 603 7627 and ask for the ‘Priority Line’ or call the Police.
Please note: During out of hours (Mon-Thurs 5:00pm-9am or Fri & Bank Holidays 4:30pm-9am), please call 0345 606 1212 or email Emergency.DutyTeamOutOfHours@essex.gov.uk
The Children and Families Hub also offers a consultation line for professionals providing advice and guidance. This can be accessed by calling 0345 603 7627 and asking for the ‘Consultation Line’.
Young Carers Statement
Harwich and Dovercourt High School is committed to develop provision for young carers and their families.
We are determined to support young carers as well as we can.
How we will achieve this:
- The whole school is committed to meeting the needs of young carers so that they can attend and enjoy school in the same way as other pupils and achieve their potential.
- Appointing Mr Garnham as a designated Young Carers’ School Lead with responsibility for young carers and their families. Mr Garnham is available to support all young carers and will be supported in this by Mrs Helm.
- The school only shares information with professionals and agencies on a need to know basis in order to support pupils and their families.
- Harwich and Dovercourt High School will actively seek feedback and ideas from young carers and their families to shape and improve support.
- The school has an effective referral system and strong partnership in place with relevant external agencies, including referral to Young Carer agencies providing key workers who will work with young carers and families.
We will strive to achieve best practice for students and families in our school in order to provide them with the best chance of success in their future.